Midnight Lily
by Solitary Shadow
Summary: Every night, people think the stationmaster's daughter is just looking for Skimble. They're right, although she always finds him a long time before the train has to leave... [Stationmaster's daughter x Skimbleshanks, mostly friendly]


**Disclaimer:** CATS does not belong to me in any way.

**Author's Note:** You can blame Quidam for this. She told me this idea and it wouldn't leave. It was also simillar to another idea I had before, but not involving this exact pairing. So here you go - this is a small sweet drabble involving the Stationmaster's daughter x Skimble pairing.

Must admit I took severe liberties with this one...

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It was almost midnight. The railway station was still very busy indeed, and among the many soon-to-be passengers of the Midnight Mail, a young girl skipped across the tracks. She was lithe and petite - sweet and innocent. She was eleven years old but anyone looking at her might have thought she looked way too young for that.

The girl was wearing a captain's hat and wearing a small crown-shaped badge. She was, as people who looked at her instantly recognized, the stationmaster's daughter.

She slowed down to a walk as she reached a spare corner of the station, walking towards the luggage van. There seemed to be someone in there, working busily amongst the luggage and boxes. She giggled, and opened the door, creeping in.

"Look who's here, Skimbleshanks!" She called softly, grinning. There was silence for a while, and then a humanoid form stepped out of the darkness, blinking.

"Miss Lily? Is that you?" Upon closer inspection, he was not really a human; he was slim and tall, wearing a vest and black knee-high boots. But his eyes were of an unnaturally bright shade of green, with soft fur on his body, brown tabby markings on his back, arms, legs and head. He moved with a certain feline grace that humans didn't possess. The feline male was rather handsome, with gentle, smiling features and a fit body. Lily giggled again and took off the hat from her head, handing it to him.

"I found your hat in one of the compartments. I know how much you like it - I brought it for you."

"Why, thank you." He smiled and put on the hat. "I was wondering if I could find it in the train. How's things out there, Miss Lily? The train should be departing soon."

"We still have eleven minutes left." The young girl sat down on one of the boxes. "I missed you, Skimble. While you're away with the Jellicles it isn't the same around here." Skimble lightly chukled at that, stacking up the last of the boxes. He straightened his hat and pulled up his boots, and then adjusted his vest so he looked uniform and tidy. After that he sat down on the boxes, climbing up on them swiftly.

"But surely there are a lot more things around that could make up for my absence?"

"Not really." Lily sighed. "You're the charmer around here. There are a lot more passengers in the Midnight Mail than in the daylight ones. I think they all like you, that's why they all come at midnight. You're really nice to everyone."

"Thank you." The Jellicle tom bowed graciously, making the girl laugh. She smiled and got off her seat to join him up on all the boxes. She climbed up a few - but then slipped slightly. Skimble reached for her hand, helping her up. "Do be careful, Miss Lily! Luggage vans are dangerous places. As a matter of fact, so are trains."

"Don't call me 'Miss', Skimble... It makes me feel weird." Lily gasped as she reached the top. "Plain Lily does fine... for me."

"As you wish." Skimble replied. "But why do you stay? Your father might be looking for you."

"He'll never find me here." Lily said confidently. "Besides, I like you, Skimble. What's wrong about wanting to be with someone you like?"

"Nothing at all, Lily." Skimble answered. "Nothing. But still... I'm a Jellicle. People might get strange ideas."

"People are all weird." Lily said dismissively. "There's nothing wrong with you being a Jellicle. When will humans learn to properly coexist with others? It's not fair."

The orange tom laughed softly. "That's very thoughtful of you, Lily."

"I'm not so young as I look." She huffed. "But if you find my company too childish I'll go away." She got up and turned away. Skimble put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks, although she still looked away.

"I apologize," He said sincerely. "I didn't mean to offend. It was just that your emotional maturity surprised me."

"Well, you didn't sound like it." She replied, still sounding a little hurt, but sat back down again, snuggling into the long, soft fur of her companion. "You're really warm." She replied drowsily. "It's way past my bedtime, Skimble, but I stayed up so I could see you. You're quite comfy to be honest." she yawned, suddenly tired. "I might as well go to sleep here. Wake me up when you have to go, right, Skimble?"

"Sure I will." The Jellicle tom said softly. Silence reigned supreme for a few minutes after that, the girl asleep in his arms.

But that moment didn't last long.

"Lily?" A voice called from outside, shaking the girl awake. "Lily darling, where are you?"

"It's dad." She said quietly, looking crestfallen. "And I was sleeping well too..."

"Must be time, Lily." Skimble set her down gently on the ground and stood up. "You'd better go. I'll be seeing you soon. The stationmaster must be waiting for you."

"And you too. Shall I go first?" Lily asked.

"That would be preferble. Do go now." The girl turned towards the doors of the van, hands stopping just a few inches away from it. She turned to him with a smile. "Skimble?"

"Yes?"

She blew him a kiss.

Skimble caught it.

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I did not come up with the pairing. Quidam did. So I owe her for getting me out of this wretched CATS writers' block. Thank you, Quidam! (Huggles)


End file.
